Dark Prince 3
by Helltanz98
Summary: In the wake of the Chinese Invasion of Kyushu Japan hovers perilously close to the precipice. The aftermath highlights both strengths and weaknesses in Japan and abroad. Sawasaki has proclaimed a new period of warring states has come to be, and he may be more right than even he realizes. An imminent threat is faced by Tokyo, as Kyoto's control weakens.


-scene break-

Chapter 1

Helltanz's notes: This is the rough draft of the third in the series. Chapter 2 is mostly done, and this has been mostly finished for a time as well. There are probably some minor errors remaining, but there were requests to put this up.

Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass, this is done strictly for non profit.

-scene break-

Lelouch vi Britannia pulled his shirt back on, and slowly buttoned it up. The routine physical was normally just a formality, but the stiffness in his neck was enough of a problem he'd mentioned it to the doctor. G forces were explanation; it was just the cost of piloting an knightmare and getting hit... more than once, and crashing through a building. It was really nothing a couple of aspirin and some rest wouldn't fix. The same could be said for the loss of life that had affected all sides involved in the recent skirmish in Kyushu.

The news media wouldn't shut up over the 'weekend war', and the Tokyo Settlement was abuzz over the possible repercussions of the event. To be honest though every major city in Japan was like that... even this far north in relative serenity of Hokkaido. Here though, safely behind the masses of HAG troops, Lelouch could confidently tend to his duties. The Thorian lapel pin glinted from its place on its jacket. Still the question of remaining in Japan was one that very much hung over him now that Sawsaki had outed him to the world.

The end of the weekend war had left a sour taste in everyone's mouth. Kyushu wasn't happy. China certainly wasn't. Britannia was downright furious. Hell the only person who really seemed to be enjoying themselves over this mess was Lelouch's cousin the Russian Tsar.. if the letter commending him, Lelouch, and medal that had accompanied it were any indication. Of course there was also a request for an expansion of the Warlock production lines as well... so there was that. The issue with the Russians though was second fiddle compared to other concerns on the ground in Japan.

"Sir." The HAG officer saluted, which he mechanically returned as he left the office.

Hokkaido had been where he'd wanted to bring Nunnally... at least when he'd first started working it all out. The truth though was that between the beginning, not long after the invasion, of establishment and the present day he'd decided the Tokyo was best. He'd come close to changing his mind a dozen times, but it would have meant uprooting Nunnally from the life she had grown entrenched to living at Ashford.

Today Hokkaido might have been the safest city in Japan, but when the Japanese Resistance groups had not initially taken the Black Knights well. Their distrust and dislike had been one thing, but the terrorists had quickly labeled it a threat. It had been a fateful bombing that had killed well over a dozen Black Knight Personnel a few years ago that had dissuaded Lelouch from bringing Nunnally here.

The Black Knight response to the attack had been harsh, and unrelenting in its fury... not the least of which because Lelouch had known personally those amongst the dead. If Cornelia ever learned about the event she would no doubt compare the affair to the assassination of his mother at the Ares estate, which would have been unfortunate and irritating. In the aftermath Hokkaido had begun to be used interchangeably with Sapporo. Today though Hokkaido, the entirely island, was safe... a fortress demense of the Black Knights.

Lelouch looked around, and liked what he saw when he watched the metropolitan layout. It was true that the city been nearly rebuilt from effectively the ground up, but not because of the war. In truth the province of Hokkaido had surrendered without much fighting and the Britannians had not paid it much mind. There were buildings in Sapporo that were pre Britannian rule, but it was hard to tell the difference... especially when either were likely to have 'boys be ambitious' inscribed on them more often than not. Ambition had helped rebuild here.

People flocked in as security was proven time and again, and those Japanese who would not have had jobs had they lived south found employment they were qualified for. The Black Knights Fortress did not design itself after all. It had been a collaborative effort. Brittannian, Russian, Japanese amongst others had all been involved. All things considered the new look suited it. "Welcome back sir."

He nodded to his aide de camp, "I take it that that is the abridged compilation of Combat Performance Reports?" It wasn't really a question, because the mass of paperwork was what he'd been waiting on for days. It was, and Lelouch accepted the packet, and stepped into the elevator and pressed the button to take him up to ninety ninth floor. At, a tallest point, of just under 400 meters the Black Knights regional headquarters 'zone' was an expansive and complex campus of interconnected, and free buildings. It also had its own Radar command and control system entirely autonomous from the airports nearby... a closely guarded secret. Most people, as it happened, were more concerned to stare at the motorpool, and the knightmares.

It was from this lofty vantage point Lelouch could look out over the city. Nearby Ishikari had had its harbor extensively expanded, and was now basically an extension of what was Sapporo. The metropolitan area grew rather than contracted as so many had. Reconstruction, and expansion of the city had been an all consuming task. Sadly no such effort could be mounted in Kyushu... though very large numbers of heavy industrial machinery had been reported deployed by Chinese humanitarian works as of late. Still for the moment Lelouch was content to stare at the reports on combat performance. "JCFIR has flagged additional traffic for review, and wants to expedite our security review of Hokkaido." He remarked, which given the ease of which the Fukuoka installation had been turned against Britannia seemed a wise course. "Katsuya will need to see to that, particularly given the port security." The true meat of the report though was mechanical in nature... pages upon pages about the various war machines involved in the fighting.

"I understand, there is also the matter of the Assault Frames -"  
The man left the comment to hang in the air, "I know," He replied tersely. More than half were now inoperable, and would remain thus for the foreseeable future... the unfortunate reality of using what were nearly all prototypes in real combat. Finicky parts were just one of the problems... and wasn't actually including combat losses either. It was a simple enough fix to repair the servos in the Merlin's arm the problem before them though was substantially more trying with regards to logistics. While they'd made their bests effort to conceal the extent of logistical hurdles to restore the damage done by the fighting. Building a single custom frame was actually relatively easy... limited production series was where it ran into complications. Once you had mass production handled then you could just churn out spare parts... a capacity that did not exist for things like the Hardrock A-KMF. "I don't suppose we've gotten a report yet about Kyoto's logistic situation?" It had been a week already so it was possible, but then old man Kirihara had been rather quiet thus far. Then there was the issue of Todoh with the return of the JLF... that had been a lapse. For Lelouch this only highlighted the unfortunate harbinger of what was coming...

The Chinese Invasion of Kyushu might have been resolved, but it only demonstrated how close to the precipice Japan really was. China was also now dangerously alert, regarding Russia, which presented a whole other set of potential headaches. The potential of open warfare in Japan... as Sawasaki had so cheerfully put it 'Sengoku Jidai' ... would bog down immeasurable amounts of resources. Then of course there were others problems... whilst knightmares occupied the public eye they were not the sole Black Knight operation. Paramilitary focus dominated their armed detachments, but that lacked the glamor of the walking war machines.

"We do have the logistics reports from Prussia," His aide finally announced.

Lelouch glanced sideways, and tossed other report. "I'll take it now then," The factions of the Black Knights allowed for a great deal of misdirection... especially with regards to their size. It was kind of the whole point for the set up. The Germans Panzer Humell translated to mean armored butterfly. There were other EU frames of course, but Spanish and Italian indigenous designs had more evident flaws... especially the latter after the accident in Parma... which Lelouch had absolutely nothing to do with. "Are they..." was Konigsberg actually serious, "Actually referring to knightmares in general as walking armor?" He shook his head and continued to peruse. Beyond the quirks though the latest from Europe was relevant from an industrial standpoint... and defense, "So they're moving the Igel into test phase." The last thing they really needed was a larger heavier panzer hummel, but well standoff attack seemed to be what they were going for. Lelouch kicked back and started reading again.

-scene break-

Cornelia hurled the phone across the room... sooner or later Lelouch was going to answer his phone and when he did she was going to give him such an earful. Right now though this was a military matter, and regardless of wanting to lay low there was need for soldiers and their weapons of war. It was just an unfortunate reality the plants which produced her Gloucesters were far from here.

Still that mousy little upstart Sawasaki had given them such a headache by announcing Lelouch to the public... and that same public was going wild... so she could understand that. In the mean time the homeland was proving less than forthcoming. Her oldest brother had made promises of support, but it would take time to deliver them if they were coming at all. As much as she'd loathed the speech Sawasaki had broadcast throughout Japan... he did admittedly have a point. One the public had grasped in the days since the 'weekend war' had ended. Oh how she loathed hearing that term every single time she turned on the news.

It was a buzzword they were constantly using... accompanied by footage from the conflict. Some of the more brazen networks had even broadcast more sensitive footage. Some of it had been of the various different and new knightmares ... others had been pictures of behind the lines. The latter had mainly been wounded, or even officers talking or just moving too and from, but the damage to the Avalon was a problem. That horrid looking line of scorched melted metal across the side of Schneziel's pride was a bloody nose to the public. If the reports from Military Intelligence were to be believed the Black Knights had had tow the Skidbladnir back to its dock as well. She had no idea how serious the damage to that was, but the Avalon alone looked pretty severe. It wasn't something that any news outlet was going to forget... nor the public given it was one the television seemingly several times an hour.

The city of Tokyo... no the whole metropolis was dominated by the gossip about the conflict. Faced with that challenge the newscasters... even ones from allegedly responsible and respectable outlets sought every little rumor out... any tiny piece of information to try and out compete their rivals, and it was driving her insane... and Euphemia was and wasn't helping... and then there was Clovis who she didn't even want to broach on... and Speaking of the blonde devil.

"Viceroy," An underling intoned carefully sticking his head into the office of the Viceroy, which had gone a significantly more spartan since Cornelia had taken up residence.

Cornelia li Britannia rounded on yet another one of Clovis's stooges as the man scurried into the room arms laden with no doubt the latest briefing on the state of the Area. She was almost tempted to demand what had happened now, because really it was a good thing that Area 11 had two sub viceroys. Clovis knew what he was doing, for the most part, when it came to managing the civilian side of things. As it happened Euphemia needed someone to help get used to things. Except Clovis had decided that clearly he needed his own personal order of knights, and was trying to open a full size factory for knightmare parts, under his direct control, in the Tokyo metropolis... which had been encouraged by Schneziel. So Clovis had all but blown her off. "What is it?"

"Prince Clovis has asked for you..." The man paused chewing slightly on his lower lip, "and if possible for Prince Lelouch to attend... if he happens to be available."

Cornelia took note of the last bit... mostly because it implied Lelouch wasn't answering Clovis's calls either, which was in its own way a small comfort. "What does my brother happen to want?" It wasn't likely she couldn't guess. Cornelia's Gloucesters had in their own way been revolutionary when they'd been unveiled. Each of the three first generation prototypes had been built to exacting tolerances and custom specifications. The Glaston knights had gotten to use the test types, under whom the Gloucester had demonstrated it could be produced to outfit entire units, whilst still having extensive parts compatibility with the Sutherland, and other Sutherland variations... and yet it was a fifth generation frame in a rapidly shifting world... the first, post conflict, casualty report demonstrated that.

With a total just under a thousand 'official' military losses it was steep price for a mere three days of fighting. Of course discounting whatever percentage of the dead were courtesy of Russian naval surface warfare elements still didn't make this easy to swallow publicly. It was a public relations nightmare. Naturally the hawks were baying for blood over the Britannian component of the war dead... or just the audacity of the Chinese to begin with. So Cornelia understood her priority needed to be reinforcing what parts of Area 11 that were under her control. "Lets go see what my brother wants," She barked at Guildford who fell in behind her as Clovis's flunky led the way... no doubt to one of Clovis's obnoxious limousines.

The waiting white monstrosity was met only with contempt, but at least it was bulletproof, which was a small comfort.

-scene break-

Where as Lelouch had had the option of fleeing back to Hokkaido for Kallen the had been no such luxury. Nope... not an option... her dad had called from the homeland and told her to go back to school... and Lelouch had pretty much said the same thing.

The red head thumped her head against the wall of Ashford accademy. Oghi and the others couldn't go back to the Tokyo area... which was a problem, but she was already regretting coming back to Ashford tucked away deep within the Brittanian Settlement. No one at school wanted to talk about the conflict... not really talk about it. It was the same thing on the news they just wanted to say 'we won', and gossip... and maybe for five minutes consider where the future lay. She just had to sit here in this stupid school and take it.

The Japanese though were at a crossroads... "Oh your back," She grunted at Suzaku, who was in his military uniform... "What happened did you have to go run to the store for the pinkette?" She took no small glee when Suzaku flinched.

"I was actually coming to see you," He responded, "I was kind of hoping you might have heard something from Lelouch."

That made it her turn to do the flinching because Rivalz and Shirley both rounded on here jumping at the idea she might have heard something, which she hadn't. That in itself was annoying. "No Shirley I haven't heard anything from your precious Lulu, but don't worry I'm sure he's fine. He's probably waxing poetic about the endless silence or something," Or doing paperwork... loathe as she was to admit it... here at least Oghi and Tamaki both remarked that administration was actually hard work. Still talks about that subject probably wouldn't go over well... the Black Knights were a paramilitary organization.

Milly chose to interrupt the burgeoning comotion with a handily placed couple of swats from a rolled up newspaper that had been conveniently laying around, "We're supposed to be working guys this Special Edition isn't going to write itself, and since Lelouch isn't here Kallen and Suzaku get to be our main interviews. What did you say your knightmare was?"

"It the Gurren," Suzaku interjected, for her. "I don't know if we really should be talking about it I mean it was a military operation." He continued, "I mean a lot about those knightmares is probably classified information."

Kallen snorted, but admitted that, Suzaku might have a point, but predictably Milly just waved those complaints aside. "Oh come on. Its not like Ashford is going to be making copies of your giant robot." The red head didn't find the idea of anyone making more copies of the Gurren particularly funny. "I just want to know the basics, and you know some personnel opinions I mean you both have the cutting edge in knightmares as far as things go." Milly had already figured out she could head off or start and argument about knightmares between the two fairly easily. It just really depended on what the blonde was looking for... and right now she was fishing for answers and bylines for the school paper. Except that this issue was for more than just the school. Kallen understood that plenty of people were grasping for answers... and Ashford name recognition meant something. There had already been a couple of more daring reporters who'd had to be thrown off the campus after trying to sneak in, and a couple of off campus interviews with students. Some of those had ranged from professional to outright harassment. The calls from the Stadtfeld house her step mother left on her voice mail were exceedingly annoying...

Kallen wasn't even sure what she was even supposed to do in that scenario. At least she had some degree of common ground with Cornelia, knightmares, her step mother was just a harpy always going on about something or another. It was, in her opinion, pretty fucked up when she was having an easier time talking with the viceroy about things. She was stuck here, just like, she imagined, how Kyoto was caught between the JLF and the Black Knights. Stuck between Ashford, and a military career the extent of which she'd never imagined.

The battle over Kyushu had involved an extraordinary number of frames. It was a conflict where every side involved had Japanese soldiers piloting knightmares. That alone should have shown how utterly screwed up the situation had become. A single look at the Settlement though made it difficult to accept that anything had changed yet.

A bell rang, and for Kallen that meant heading to another class.

-scene break-

Schneziel el Britannia in an uncharacteristic display of humanity exhaled, and rubbed the bridge of his nose as his team stood before him, "How fares the Avalon?"

"The damage is what it is." Kanon answered for the group, "While some of the burns are largely cosmetic, some of the interior electrical fires are of more concern. It will take time to repair,"

The report his aide de camp handed over was as expected precise, but thorough. While the Avalon was still flight capable the shields, which as it was only covered the front of the ship, were nearly inoperable. "We risk blowing the fusebox by turning them on?" He muttered more to himself. It was the kind of news that made him dread the idea of looking at the estimated cost to repair the golden ship... especially with the armed forces clamoring for more such vessels to be built. Still he needed to restore the Avalon, which most likely meant returning to California. Returning though would meant leaving Area 11, and his siblings, and weaken them against the Chinese. On the other hand with Avalon damaged and no divisions at his command he realized there was only limited support he could provide, "I don't suppose Clovis could expedite our repairs?" He shook his head, when pressed on the matter of trade secrets, "I certainly don't mind sharing the Avalon's technical specs with my little brother," Clovis most likely had started to plan the building of his own aerial ship soon after the Avalon debuted anyway. Still even if the current sub Viceroy did decide to he'd need to build a dock, and that would take time they didn't really have with regards to the Avalon. Cobbling together work wasn't really expedient though... hence California.

The answer boiled down to they could ask, but it was unlikely Clovis would be able to help in the immediate short term.

"What about Dame Alstreim?"

and the Gawain, which the Knight of the Round had appropriated in all but name, "The Emperor has made his orders clear... she will remain, and likely continue to utilize the Gawain." He flipped a page and spared a look at the cost estimates for the Avalon... maybe she could pick up the maintenance costs for the Gawain. "I suppose we'll just have to keep up efforts on it until she makes her intentions known. Gentlemen for the moment we should accept that for the time being we'll remain in Area 11, and plan accordingly."

Expediting, and fabricating, some of the parts he'd need to fix the Avalon was going to be pricy. It wasn't that Schneziel didn't have the money but still warships were expensive... especially private ones. Schneziel could already imagine Lelouch, at least as the businessman, was already apoletic over the damage done by the 'weekend war'. The prime minister didn't even consider himself particularly miserly and the prospect was already dreading paying for, he couldn't imagine how Lelouch felt about the prospect.

"With your duties as prime minister that may be a problem, especially with regards to the ongoing European engagement in Africa," Kanon pointed out, which in theory was probably true on paper. Britannia however had a very convoluted government. The Emperor could do whatever he wanted. Charles from a bureaucratic standpoint was far from incompetent... when he chose to actually do work. "We also need to consider that there are various research concerns we are obligated to participate in within the Empire."

Schneziel himself wasn't an engineer or scientist by trade, but he managed plenty of investments and funded an extensive number of development firms. Firms which were in turn often engaged in military research for the betterment of Britannia. Some of this was often funneled to support Cornelia's personal forces. All of it however meant there was a great deal of expectation placed on his programs... especially with the scrutiny his Avalon was going to be under. IF Britannia escalated the conflict with the EU, or worse got into a land war in Asia ... well the consequences would be severe.

He looked out over the city that had been built in Tokyo. When he'd made a flight over Tokyo on the return from Kanajime he'd seen the Ghetto outside the settlement. In the aftermath of the Britannian invasion Japan's economy had had its legs cut out from under it. Britannians had moved into some of the cities, but Britannia had been interested mostly in securing Sakuradite. Some other pre war industries had survived but only a few, and Britannia itself had encouraged some degree of colonial tourism, but Area 11 colonial focus had been Sakuradite. The Tokyo settlement attracted Britannians of all walks of life, but not nearly enough to replace all the Japanese who before the war had lived there. So the getto existed. It was the ossified remains of a metropolis that had perhaps at its height held perhaps ten, or even twelve million souls. That blight of an outer shell was like a dark shadow to the Britanians who lived in Tokyo, and a place of knightmares to them, and even to those who didn't even live in the Area. Even as Prime Minister Schneziel did have the pull to do anything about the ghetto. Officially it was supposed to be the Viceroy, but no one was going to spend that kind of money. Not Clovis, and certainly not Cornelia.

Yet allowing such a dangerous place to exist on the fringe of what should have been there most secure enclave seemed foolish. Tokyo was the capital of Area 11. Whilst it might not have been the base of such major groups as the JLF, Schneziel didn't even begin to ponder how many attacks had been planned and executed from within the Tokyo ghetto. Still given the resurfacing of the JLF they might well need to be the more pressing focus. Heroically coming from nowhere to join in securing victory against the Chinese was a propaganda coup. Regardless of how Diethard, and to a lesser extent other Britannia news services, tried to spin it their return had to some extent upstaged Lelouch and his Black Knights.

"Is there something wrong your highness?"

Schneziel couldn't physically see the urban blight that was the ghetto, but he still knew that it was there. "I'm going to need to speak with both the Viceroy, and sub viceroys regarding the ghetto and attendant security concerns. Please schedule that at first available convenience Kanon." He responded turning away from the massive window.

-scene break-

In a world with three superpowers it was very easy to forget all the little countries, and even easier for freedom fighters to drop back below the head lines. It was the flaw of arrogance amongt influential nation states to barely looked beyond their yards, and at the neighbors they were competing with. The superpowers focused on their own enrichment, and then towards weakening their opposites, and then to whatever other goals they had in mind.

To that end the Chinese Federation had gladly supplied weapons and equipment to plenty of groups regardless of political affiliation so long as it was far enough away from the Chinese heartland. Illict arms trade was profitable also. The home grown Japanese military small arms industry that had existed before the war was wholly insufficent. The nambu just didn't penetrate the increasingly available Britannian 'combat armor carrier's' plate. It left the three superpowers as the only real option for new better firearms.

Yojimbo, which was an assumed name, preferred using Britannian weapons. It was a logistical preference really as it was much easier to get ammo or replacement parts from occupiers. This preference didn't stop him from utilizing Chinese weapons though particularly their compact bullpups to outfit his guys.

"Not exactly a friendly welcome," The Istavaanian officer remarked.

The Japanese Freedom Fighter smiled, "I apologize for the inconvience, but I thought it was wise precaution given the sensitive nature of this."

"And what is that?" The officer asked pointedly.

He didn't immediately respond, "You are a Colonel within the Black Knights yes?" With confirmation he continued, "I understand that that captured during the recent conflict were large quantities of Chinese equipment." He held up his hands in a distinctly Britannian gesture to assuage the officer, "What I am saying is I would like to trade. The Black Knights are still hostile to the Black Dragon Society yes?"

The tension in the room increased a hundred fold, as the Black Knights almost collectively inhaled at the last four words. When Japan had been invaded and then swiftly surrendered Kyoto had been able to establish wide control over most resistance groups. The great houses had managed to keep Japan together from behind the shadows. The JLF might have been the largest group of Japanese military survivors who resisted Britannian, but they were far from the only ones. There were plenty of groups with whom Lt Colonel Kusakabe would have fit right in with, but imagine an organization comprised entirely of people of that particular militarist bent... or worse even.

The man who called himself Yojimbo looked around, "I see I have your attention. According to urban legend the Black Knights have kill on sight orders for known members of Kokuryū. I wish to trade proof that General Sousuke Uchiwa is alive, and information of his movements."

"In exchange for what?"

"The Chinese equipment of course, after all you're not likely to use it. Let me take it off your hands, and in return you can have all of my information on your enemies." Yojimbo reached down for the locked stainless steel box, "I'm not asking for your knightmares, but this list of needs of mine is relatively expansive. I also wish to encourage to move quickly as in the wake of the recent conflict the Kokuryūkai seem to be planning an attack on Tokyo."

-scene break-

"Kallen," The red head groaned as she fumbled with the phone, "Did you hear anything I said?" The agitated prince demanded from the other end.

She groaned, "No, its like four am Lelouch." The knightmare pilot responded sparing a glance at the bedside clock, which in red LED placed the time an hour before dawn, "Hold on," Kallen might have hated her, evil socialiate, bitch of stepmother, and barely got to see her father, but the Stadtfeld estate had amenities you just didn't get anywhere else. Her bed was the best thing ever when you were exhausted. She turned on the bed side lamp, "Ok what is it?"

"I said I have Rakshata working to complete maintenance to the Gurren," Lelouch stated, an evident tinge of irritation clearly present. "I will be transferring it and an associated contingent to defend Ashford Academy. This will be include security forces."

She hobbled sleepily out of bed, "How much coffee have you had?" The red asked head to the mahogany armoire that had been brought over from the homeland... it had been her grandmother's or one of them. One of her armoires, it had belonged to her father's mother. "Couldn't this wait until morning, why do I have to get up for this?"

"Kallen JCFIR sent out priority recall, and activation notices two hours ago." He responded from the other end of the phone, "My plane touches down at Tokyo international inside of the next two hours."

That kind of explained the background noise she noticed now that she was up and alert. Kallen rifled around her nightstand for the 'pager' she'd been given when they'd first gotten word about the potential for a Chinese invasion... yep there were a couple messages... oops. "Ok and uh what are we doing? Are the Chinese invading again?"

"I will explain everything just go to Ashford, and wear something professional we're probably going to have to meet up with the Viceroy too." While Kallen stared across the pitch black grounds of the immaculately maintained Stadtfeld residence on the other end of the line Lelouch stared up at the rows of palletized weapons. "I'll see you later," He finished weakly and clicked the phone off. Most of these weapons would be staying where they were.

A familiar HAG officer cleared his throat, "The plane is fueled sir,"

The meeting with the viceroy ended up getting pushed back, and Clovis had vocally complained about having to get up at seven to get ready. "You weren't doing anything anyway."  
"I was sleeping," The blonde prince protested, "I mean whats this about anyway. Lelouch got on a red eye flight to come down here surely he could have waited till morning. Couldn't you have taken a later flight?"

Lelouch who was presently hunched over a computer barely glanced up, "I did consider coming over with some of our heavier equipment." He commented snidely as the lights dimmed and the projector started.

"Is that who I think it is, your highness?" It was Jeremiah who spoke up first as the pixels solidified into a Japanese face.

Lelouch glanced at the projected image, grimaced bent down and hit a key. A second later the handful of pictures were side by side with pre war, Britannian, Military Intelligence photos of Japanese officers. "Yes it is." The Kurrugi government had been a unity administration, but only barely. Genbu Kurrugi's party had made signicant election gains and barely needed the support of the other parties at the end. Part of that was the strength of the plutocrats, and zaibatsu which backed him up. Militarism had been a secondary plank. "When the Kurrugi government surrendered Japan's military largely evaporated over the next few weeks. Britannia's navy had already largely annhilated the Japanese fleet, and air power was capable of projecting far into the interior of the Kanto block. What was left of the ground forces formed groups like the JLF, but existing militarist were able to supply arms to already extant ultranationlists. This is General Sousuke Uchiwa formerly the head of Japanese Military Intelligence." Lelouch's eyes closed briefly, and in a quiet tone continued, "He is the subject of a Black Knights' kill on sight order."

"Say what?" Clovis exclaimed, "Uh ok. Thats-" It wasn't just Clovis... his other two siblings took note of the rather severe sounding proclamation with interest.

The dark haired prince made a face, and Clovis gestured for him to continue, and Lelouch let the other shoe drop. "We have credible intelligence courtesy of the Istavaanian faction that there is an imminent attack planned on the Tokyo settlement." It wasn't like there hadn't been threats against Tokyo before, but now...

"Its the timing isn't it," Schneziel remarked tersely, "So the question regarding this becomes are they collaborating with the Chinese, or more likely simply offended by all this success of late that is not their own?"

"I don't know."

-scene break-


End file.
